I named my studio Ye Yuan(Wild Garden)
It’s out of the Third Ring Road of Chengdu
It’s located in Sanshengxiang, which is a 4A-level scenic area
I can be myself better when I’m closer to nature
I graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2011
I moved to the new studio in 2014
I spent all my savings on the studio
About 300,000 yuan
It covers an area of around 500m2
Its layout is similar to that of Chongqing
The second floor looks like the first floor
But when you look from the backyard, the second floor becomes the first floor
When I just moved in
I probably spent 6 hours on painting
Every day
A painting is seen from a distance
The studio is large
So I can see it at a distance
And continue creating after observing repeatedly
My parents violated the one-child policy because of the birth of me
I was born in Shangdong
I have an elder brother
In my childhood
I often hid in the home of my uncle and aunt
I created works based on such experience
Odyssey and Bryant has four stages
The first scene is called the Secret in the Cabinet
The character was born and grew up in the cabinet
I have no sense of security
The second part is called Mirror
I made self-exploration
I searched for myself in the third scene
The character asked a policeman, an old man and a skeleton
In the 4th scene
I was divided into two people by a surgery
I often post my works on my social media and my friends would say they’re beautiful
They say I’m living an idyllic life
In fact
When I’m not working, I clean the house
I wanted to make a fire in winter
So I bought and split some firewood
I’m not exaggerating
Painting needs some strength after all
It’s a way to relieve my pressure
I wiped the leaves one by one
And I found there were over 280 leaves in total
My parents and my elder brother worry if it’s safe to live here
One night, I saw a person
Rushing out of the house opposite with a tv in his arms
I had trouble with my family a few years ago
My father wrote me a letter
I dared not to read it
I read it with my hands on my eyes
I drew a picture as an answer to him
(Do you enjoy the solitude now?)
Yes. I like staying by myself a lot
Because it’s required by my occupation
When you get into your groove
You’re in your private land
I made the first cabinet in 2017
Then my creation changed to three-dimensional works from two-dimensional works
It was inspired by the poem Bluebird written by an American poet
It’s like an old tv stand
It has four small wheels
I used paints and acrylic paints
Among oil painting majors, there’s a popular saying which goes ‘graduation means unemployment
I don’t have a fixed income
It might be around 500,000 a year in good days
It’s hard to say the number in bad days
If you don’t hold solo exhibitions
You’re in a semi-suicide condition
In around 2013
I created two paintings
One is called Living towards Death
The other is called Dying towards Life
It was a small-and-medium-sized parrot
I kept it for six and a half years
On the day when it died
I buried it in my garden
And I made a small gravestone
The saddest was not the fact that it left me
But the experience of me accompanying it through its last days
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, I started painting with watercolors
My first painting album is called Breathe
When you have been locked up for a period of time
You need to breathe physically and psychologically
Even if I have children and my own family one day
I would still want to rent the garden
On each day of your life, you’re walking towards death
You should walk with what mind-set
It’s more important than before